Our $200 Fireplace Makeover (Marble Tile & A New Mantel)

We can officially stick a fork in it, guys. Well, Sherry actually stuck an oversized fauz clam shell in it, but that’s doesn’t roll off the tongue quite as well. Either way, the fireplace makeover is complete.

Our fireplace is non-working (we’d love to add a gas insert and even double-side it down the road) but for this phase of the process all that was left was to add some primer and paint.

I’ll spare you the play-by-play of the painting process because it wasn’t all that exciting. First we primed (using ) then painted the whole thing with Benjamin Moore’s since it’s what’s on the nearby cabinets (and because we had some leftover). After that we did some touch-ups, like giving the firebox itself a fresh coat of its original color (Benjamin Moore’s ) Note: use fireplace-approved high heat paint if you have a working fireplace.

And after giving it a couple of days to “cure” we put everything back so that we could call this puppy complete. And it’s a puppy that I kind of want to curl up with (yes, Sherry pets it).

Update: A few folks are asking if we considered widening the tiled heath to match the width of the built-out sides of the fireplace – we did, but since it’s just a bit of shoe molding (which also extends around all of our cabinets) it didn’t bother us enough to rip up cork to make it happen. Perhaps down the line we’ll paint the brown floor trim white to make it appear wider if it bothers us :)

Here’s an obligatory before and after for ya:

But I much prefer this one, which shows what the fireplace looked like when we bought our house back in 2010…

Since the painting step didn’t cost us any extra money (we used supplies that we already owned), the total cost for the project is just the addition of the two budgets we’ve already shared (tiling was $99 and building out was $98.75) but here’s the full breakdown:

Cement board (2 sheets): $16

Masonry screws: already owned

Liquid Nails Heavy Duty: $2

Subway tile: $5.50/sq ft, totaling $70

Thinset: already owned

Tiling tools (saw, trowel, float, etc): already owned

Grout: $11

Tile sealer: already owned

MDF frame: $35

Mantle top: $17

Crown, baseboard, & decorative trim: $22.75

1 x 2″ boxes: $24

TOTAL: $197.75 (* thanks to holiday gift cards from the family we only spent $147.75 – but without gift cards or already owned supplies this might be a $250 upgrade)

Some of you were curious about how we concealed the exposed edge of the cement board around the firebox. We just used a piece of trim that we had in our scrap pile (it’s slightly rounded on both sides). Before grouting we glued it in place to provide a clean edge to grout up against and now it’s painted to match everything else. Obviously for a functioning wood-burning fireplace that’s no bueno, so you’d probably want to use something . And if we ever convert our fireplace to a wood-burning one (which is unlikely since it would require a ton of chimney work) we’ll just pop out the wood trim and install tile edge pieces.

Now back to the gratuitous after shots.

Ok, one more and we’re done.

Just this guy and I’m out.

Oh wait, here’s a good comparison shot that shows how the original fireplace was pretty thin and even a little top-heavy, while the new chunkier tiled-and-framed-out version feels more “focal-point-ish.” In person has even more dimension (unfortunately photos of a white-ish surround with white-ish tile don’t depict all the texture and interest that they have in real life).

But perhaps best of all, our wall of penny tile on the other side of the room no longer feels like it’s “the fancy wall” while the rest of the kitchen struggles to keep up. The herringbone marble fireplace finally gives the penny tile a run for its money, in the best possible way. According to Sherry “it’s a swank-off in our kitchen.” Fireplace vs. wall o’ penny tile. Who will win? It’s anyone’s guess. (Spoiler alert: Sherry says the wall of penny tile wins because she pets it slightly more than the marble but it’s very close.)

So that’s the end of our little fireplace update. We’re really glad to have it done and are looking forward to some porch and carport updates. So come on end-of-March snow, give it a rest so we can get outside and start working! What are you guys doing? Any tiling, mantel building, priming, or painting? What about placing giant clam shells around the house? Any of that going on? That’s all in a days work for my lady.

Clearly, I’m important enough to comment twice within two minutes. See below. My screen said something about a duplicate message when I submitted this, then I didn’t see it at all, but . . .oh, nevermind!

Absolutely love it! We have a fireplace makeover on the list so this is extra inspiring!! We do have one problem – our ireplace is between 2 windows but not centered! There is about an inch between surround and window trim on one side and maybe 6 inches on the other side. Any thoughts on how to even things out? (Our house is 100 years old so we tend to cut it some slack!)

So funny — we’ve lived in our (100-yr-old) house for two years, and I just last weekend noticed that our fireplace is off center, too. The mantel is centered between two doorways (to a sunroom), but I finally noticed that the fireplace opening is not centered under the mantelpiece — it has a couple of inches on one side, and probably 10 inches on the other side. So FWIW, that approach (basically Sherry’s suggestion) seemed to work pretty well for whoever built the mantel at our place, since I sit on the couch facing that thing every day and never noticed it before.

I love it, but I realized that looking at the before shots of the painted white fireplace it doesn’t seem that different from far away (I’m sure it does in real life), but I have a question for you: With something like this change would it add value to your home? I’m only asking because we have a good fireplace surround (it was a new build), but the tile is…let’s just say I’d pick your tile in a heartbeat if I decided to do this to ours. But I know I need to prioritize items in my house (getting rid of contractor-grade materials). How did you decide to spend the money on this now when you know you have other plans for the fireplace down the road?

Great question! I’m not sure if it would add 1K of value to a house or anything like that, but to get to say “marble fireplace surround” in a listing, for $147, that could be what draws in buyers since it sounds posh. In person the painted-over old cracked hearth had to go, so it was more like that was a deterrent and this new fireplace definitely doesn’t hurt :)

Some time ago I watched a local make-over show where the decorators tackled a house which had been on the market for a while. The updates (some similar in nature to this) didn’t necessarily add value to the house but generated far more interest from buyers and the property was sold soon thereafter.

Good to know since I’ve stared at our fireplace going, “I should just get on that already!” I’ll have to go see this tile in person for sure since your pictures make them read almost yellowy/shell like…which I really like btw. Hope you don’t mind a copy cat! Haha!

I’m just curious why you didn’t do the tile all the way to the edge of the wood. I think it looks great but I didn’t know if there was a specific reason for doing that! Maybe all fireplaces are like that and I’ve never noticed!

We just remade the mantel over the existing one and tiled over the existing surround, so the added trim made it a bit wider but we don’t mind the look at all. Our cabinets have wood trim that overlaps the floor too, so it seems to work in the room nicely :)

The side by side before and after really show the difference in balance it has in the room. It looks really nice and I super enjoy the herringbone tile. My one question is this: Is there a reason you didn’t extend the hearth to go all the way under the mantel on the edges? Or does it and it’s being all magic-eye on me because the mantel is white and the hearth has a brown trim on it? I guess that’s two questions. I fail at math.

Looks great! But I can’t understand why you’d do the makeover before adding gas logs. Such a waste to have a cozy fireplace corner, without a fire (aka, the cozy part). That would have been priority #1 after painting the brick, for me. Maybe I’m a fireplace snob, but that comes from never having lived in a house without a wood-burning fireplace that gets used nearly every single night. Nothing comes close to replace that warmth and ambiance!

Hi John & Sherry, your fireplace is beautiful!! I love the white marble, especially with the herringbone pattern. One question I had is that visually I seem to prefer having the white wood fireplace line up with the white tile on the floor, like you had for the first fireplace. Did you think about making the floor tiled area wider? Just curious.. it looks great, and I would LOVE to have a fireplace in my apartment, or even a woodstove. I love warmth.

A swank-off. You never cease to amaze me. I love how it’s gone from a sheepish little fireplace to one that demands attention. I also really like how it’s been built out- the scale looks great. My fireplace has never felt so insecure before. I’m looking at your boring slate tile!

This has confirmed for me how much I love the blue over the grellow (although I know a lot of the problem was probably that it didn’t photograph true to life). This just feels so grown up and calm. Like Meryl Streep might breeze in and cook an omelette or something.

I don’t usually read all the comments of a post, but I’m going to have to start! Petersiks, your commentors (like yourselves) are word MASTERS!!
Speaking of word masters: I can’t get “treat yo self” out of my head from last post. Everytime I saw the marble and penny tile in this post, I thought TREAT YO SELF! …and I’m glad Sherry is bringing awareness and advocating for all of us in the I-Pet-Pretty-Things Club!! We’re not weird; we’re just our own kind of normal. :-)

I am obsesssssssed. Seriously. It’s a good thing I’ve been given strict instructions to not do anything that isn’t on THE LIST or else I’d be all over doing this to our fireplace. I’ll just stick to my trim painting and picking out floor samples *sniff*sniff*

Looks nice!
Do you ever think about the distant future homeowner’s blogging about this? Like, “our fireplace was so 2013, here’s how we uncovered and restored our 1960’s brick fireplace.”
We’ve wainscotted and crowned our whole 1958 brick ranch and I think about tht sometimes, like a future owner will rip it all down saying we ruined the ” modern” of it all. Oh well, to each his own!

This looks amazing ! It also looks much higher than before while it isn’t. Beautiful update ! And paint makes such a difference as well.
Have you already gone through the pics of the hotels you stayed at during the book tour? Still waiting for that post or have I missed it ?

I also have a non-working fireplace in the basement. The previous owners built a large sandstone fireplace that needs a smidge of updating. My biggest concern has been what to put inside it. I’m not so big on the fold out candle stands but I love the idea of the large faux clamshell. Mind sharing where you got it? If you’ve covered this previously, please forgive my asking again. Brain is a sieve lately :P
Many Thanks for all the ideas!!!

Your fireplace renovation is really great. The more traditional look compliments the rest of your house nicely. But as an architect who does high end residential work, I have to give you one tip for the next time you tackle another fireplace. The hearth stone should extend as far (or better yet, a 1/4″-1/2″ further) as the mantle itself – and in your case, this would be to the edge of the quarter round on the baseboard. It’s a small detail, but would add another layer of finesse. Not trying to be critical, but it’s the first thing my eye noticed.

It looks great. It makes such a nice impact to the room and seems to fit the overall look of your home more.

About fireplace inserts. Have you thought of an Alcohol burning insert? They usually look pretty modern but can be put almost anywhere since they don’t need a proper flue or chimney. Ecosmart makes some but I’ve seen them on Amazon.com too.